Ed O'Brien tells Outside Days he is working on his next songs

Ed O'Brien has songs in progress for his next batch, and on the morning of his talk at Outside Days in Denver he took them with him when he walked out for a matcha. He was feeling them, he told the audience on the festival's last day, Sunday 31 May. Outside has now put the conversation out as an episode of its podcast.

Paddy O'Connell, the podcast's host, asked the questions after a screening of the Blue Morpho short film. O'Brien described the depression that hit him in London during the second lockdown, his dark night of the soul, as his body telling him to stop. He first went to Mid Wales, where he now lives, 12 years ago.

He believes creativity depends on a framework. Radiohead's working day used to start at 11. His sessions with Paul Epworth and Riley MacIntyre began each morning with a barefoot walk to the river, a dip and a hot shower, then work at 11. A microphone was set up outdoors for the birdsong.

He has run side-by-side and blindfold tests on 432 Hz tuning, and it feels whole to him, though I could be barking up the wrong tree with 432.¹ His advice to the room was to walk barefoot, even in mud.

Blue Morpho: The Three Act Play, the film screened in Denver· Ed O'Brienwatch on youtube →